THE National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) clarified that its contracted ancillary services (AS) in the Visayas are active and fully deployed, but are insufficient to cover the simultaneous outages of several power plants in the region.
Ancillary services are support services necessary to maintain the reliability and security of the power grid by helping balance electricity supply and demand. They are provided by qualified generating plants and procured and managed by NGCP as system operator.
NGCP spokesperson Cynthia Alabanza likened ancillary services to a ‘spare tire’ for the power grid, saying the problem in the Visayas is that too many generating plants broke down at the same time and exhausted available backup capacity.
‘What is happening in the Visayas is that three tires went flat at the same time,’ Alabanza said during a hearing.
Even with ancillary services ‘installed, running, utilized, and being deployed to different parts of the Visayas,’ she said the simultaneous outages created a shortage too large for available reserves to cover.
‘So it is running, but it is still not enough,’ Alabanza said.
She stressed that the Visayas needs additional replacement power to stabilize the grid, but there is currently no alternative generation supply available.
‘What we need is replacement power, but there is really nothing available to replace it,’ she said.
NGCP also addressed the Batangas-Mindoro interconnection project, saying it originally filed an application with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to include the project in its capital expenditure program in 2011.
NGCP said final regulatory approval came only in February 2023.
‘In 2023, we got our resolution. I think it was approved in February 2023, dated November 2022,’ Alabanza said.
She said NGCP had already undertaken pre-construction activities while awaiting approval, allowing work to proceed continuously once the ERC resolution was issued. Construction is ongoing.
ERC Chairman Francis Saturnino Juan acknowledged the length of the regulatory process but noted that NGCP subsequently filed an application involving a different line capacity.
‘That is a matter of record, but after the original filing, there was a new filing for a different capacity for the lines, and we’ve acted on this capex proposal of NGCP,’ Juan said.
NGCP also said a two-year timetable for completing the Batangas-Mindoro interconnection project would be unrealistically short based on international construction averages.
‘We do not know where that 2025 timeline originated. I think that was a requirement of the DOE then, but we were saying two years is too short to build such a facility,’ Alabanza said.
She said NGCP nevertheless tried to meet the timetable but could not commit to completing the project within two years.
‘Even based on global averages for more developed countries, you will see that the gestation period for a transmission facility takes seven to 10 years,’ she said.
NGCP Systems Operations Manager Erwin Bugawisan earlier warned that Mindanao’s electricity supply and demand could reach equilibrium by 2028, potentially leaving the region without excess power to send to the Visayas.
‘If that happens, it will no longer have any excess power to share with the Visayas,’ Bugawisan said.
Mindanao is currently able to supply electricity to the Visayas because several new generating plants came online after 2019.
Bugawisan said electricity demand in the Visayas has increased by as much as 165 percent since 2009, while supply has risen by only as much as 130 percent.
‘If you observe from 2019 towards 2026, the supply has become stagnant. As a result, demand growth has now outpaced supply. Visayas really lacks generation,’ he said.
A similar gap is emerging in Luzon, where demand has increased by 118 percent since 2009 while generating capacity has grown by only 110 percent.
‘Supply is falling behind as well,’ Bugawisan said.
Energy Secretary Sharon Garin, however, expressed confidence that additional generating capacity would become available before 2028.
‘We have incoming power plants. We also have incoming renewables,’ Garin said.
She said the government is also conducting green energy auctions, particularly for Mindanao, and holding discussions with developers planning to build new generating facilities.
‘So, we’ll talk to NGCP about it. We’ve been talking to them about it already,’ Garin said.